work life balance

work life balance (4)

There are many reasons to foster an Integrated Leadership culture—one that values, leverages, and blends the strengths of both women and men—in your organization. Gender-balanced leadership perspectives can lead to a wide range of benefits at the organizational, team, and individual levels.

The latest research published at the end of 2015 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences tells us that men and women are not always different when it comes to thinking, communications, and problem-solving. However, studies have found that the diversity of strategies and approaches often seen between men and women go beyond gender and genetics.

Recent media coverage has stirred up a national conversation regarding women who opted out of the workforce for personal reasons and now want to opt back in. The reason most of these women left was to raise a family and many planned to eventually return to work. While the dialogue back then, about a decade ago, was all about the power of choice, the conversation now is about the challenge these “opted out” women are facing today. Unfortunately, it’s not been easy for these bright and competent women to return to the workforce and most have not been able to find positions anywhere close to the ones they left. A recent study indicated that 89% of those who “opted out” said they wanted to resume working but only 73% of them succeeded in finding jobs and only 40% got full-time work. On average, those returning to work made significantly less than they had been paid before they left and about 25% took jobs with lesser management responsibilities and a lower job title than they had in their last position.

The recent announcement of Marissa Mayer as the new CEO of Yahoo made media headlines around the world. In fact, I received an unprecedented number of calls about her from reporters and radio talk-show producers – all asking me the same question – did I think Marissa could juggle being a CEO and new mother at the same time. Could she really “have it all?” My reaction was and still is…why not?